Obituary: Prof. Michael Feige

H-Judaic mourns the horrific murder of Prof. Michael Feige (1958-2016), head of the Israel Studies Track in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and a member of the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, who lost his life in a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Prof. Feige is best known for his book, SETTLING IN THE HEARTS: JEWISH FUNDAMENTALISM IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES (2009). He was a creative scholar, an engaging teacher, and a beloved human being.

Prof. Ilan Troen, has sent us the following:

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Michael Feigewas a gentle man and a sensitive teacher.His scholarship earned him the annual Shapira Prize in 2010 of the Association for Israel Studies for the best book published in Israel Studies: “Settling in the Hearts; Jewish Fundamentalism in the Occupied Territories.”Agraduate of the Hebrew University in sociology and anthropology, much of his work was focused on memory and identity in Israeli politics and culture.He engaged in original research on the settlement movement and Gush Emunim as well as on Peace Now, the use of archaeology in contemporary Israel, the assassination of Rabin and religious fundamentalism, and the place of Ben-Gurion in national memory.After his degree he spent a year as a Fellow of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and then returned to Israel where he joined the Ben-Gurion Research Center for the Study of Israel and Zionism at the Ben-Gurion University campus in Sde Boker. He was serving as the head of the BGU program in Israel Studies.He leaves a wife and three daughters, and many friends and admirers.

​We extend deepest sympathies to Nurit and to the entire Feige family.